The invention proposes an indicator lamp, in particular for a motor vehicle.
The invention more particularly proposes an indicator lamp, in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising an optical axis oriented from the rear to the front, on which there is a light source which is provided for emitting a light flux towards the front, at a solid angle centred on the axis, and of the type comprising an optical device for recovering and distributing the rays of light emitted by the source, with a view to providing, towards the front, an indicating function that meets the regulations, the optical device comprising a coaxial annular reflector and, in front of the light source, a central optical part known as the light engine which is provided for distributing the rays of light emitted by the source in directions that are generally transverse about the optical axis, towards the coaxial annular reflector that is provided for distributing the rays of light, coming from the light engine, towards the front, generally in a direction parallel to the optical axis, so as to provide the indicating function that meets the regulations.
Such an indicator lamp is known, for example, from the document EP-A-1 182 395.
It will be recalled that the indicating functions of a vehicle lamp must meet regulations that define specific photometric conditions for each indicating function that is to be provided.
For example, in accordance with the regulations currently in force in Europe, an indicator lamp providing a fog-lamp function must form, on a measurement screen placed ten metres away, an image which has the general shape of a lozenge.
This lozenge is defined by characteristic points that are arranged on the measurement screen and that must each receive a light intensity the value of which must lie within a given range.
In the same way, an indicator lamp providing a reversing light function must form, on the measurement screen, a rectangle of given dimensions and the length of which is parallel to the horizontal plane.
New types of indicator lamp have been developed on the basis of light sources that are substantially punctiform which emit a light flux at a solid angle of given value. This type of light source is generally a light-emitting diode.
This type of light source is generally used in combination with a light conduit or guide.
The indicator lamps obtained from this combination have the drawback that they have an illumination range of great length, but of small width.
Moreover, this type of indicator lamp generally requires a number of light sources to provide a single indicating function.